Convert your mobile into a universal remote

Ever wanted to use your smartphone or tablet to control various home appliances or start your car like they show in the movies? Read on to find about the various free apps and systems available today that allow your smartphone to work as a universal remote control.

REMOTELY CONTROL YOUR HOME

Crestron is one of the leading brands for home automation. Although each installation usually comes with its own universal remote control, Crestron also provides apps for iOS and Android devices. These apps connect to the Crestron system using Wi-Fi (for seamless access anywhere) and allow you to remotely control any home appliances or gizmos that are wired into the system. Plus, you need not be at home to control your air conditioning or lighting for instance — you could do it from anywhere you have a data connection. The Android and iPhone/iPod Touch apps are free, but the iPad app costs a hefty $99.

REMOTELY START YOUR CAR

Viper SmartStart for your Car enables you to lock, unlock or start your car using an iOS, Android or BlackBerry smartphone. For this to work, you need a Viper security system and smartphone module installed in your car. The app also remembers where your car was parked and shows directions on your phone using augmented reality. Currently, SmartStart only works with US-based GSM providers, though the company is working on making the app work anywhere. For more information check out www.viper.com

REMOTE APPS FOR YOUR PC/MAC

Mobile operating systems offer a number of applications to control various aspects of your PC/MAC. You can choose to control just the mouse pointer and input text or you could control various applications such as the audio player, video player, presentations and so on. Each app requires a small server application installed on your PC/MAC, which is also available for free.

For Android: Gmote is a free application that lets you control your PC, MAC or Linux music and video player over Wi-Fi. It shows various controls on screen with the album art in the background and can even be used to browse and select files for playback. Another free (ad-supported) app called WIN-Remote offers connections to your Windows PC over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. It provides control over almost everything – browser, task manager, video/audio players, image viewers and even presentations. If you want to control specific media players, the Android Market and Apple App Store have free apps for common ones like VLC, Windows Media Player, Media Player classic, XBMC, iTunes & Foobar.

For iPhone/iPod Touch: One of the best free remote apps for the iPhone/iPod Touch is Logitech Touch Mouse. It connects to your machine over Wi-Fi and converts the 3.5-inch display into an input device. You get full control over the mouse pointer with multi-touch gestures thrown in too. An onscreen keyboard can be used to enter text input when required. Apple's own free app called 'Remote' is perfect when you just want to control iTunes. Similarly, there are apps like i-Clickr to control presentations, VLC remote for VLC player, PowerDVD remote and a Remote X app that lets you control a variety of media players with a single interface.

For BlackBerry: Vectir's Bluetooth/Wi-Fi Remote allows you to launch and control VLC Media Player, iTunes, Windows Media Player and even PowerPoint presentations. It even has a remote desktop feature to view and control the desktop from your BlackBerry or Android device. Like Logitech's offering, mouse and keyboard input can be done using your phone. The app can be used for free for the first 30 days, after which you will need to purchase a license for the desktop server app (a one-time purchase of $10) from www.vectir.com. Unlike the others, Vectir also supports Java phones from various manufacturers that have either Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connectivity.

REMOTE APPS FOR MEDIA PLAYERS

Thanks to the growing popularity of smartphones, most consumer electronics manufacturers have also started to provide dedicated free apps for their media devices. Samsung, LG, Philips and Sony have their own apps on Android & iOS platform to control their flat screen televisions, Blu-Ray players and home theatre systems with wireless connectivity. With the app, you can navigate the menu, change settings and even input text using an onscreen keyboard. Samsung's Smart View app even lets you stream TV content to your Android device.

Philips's myRemote app lets you view pictures from the mobile device on the TV. LG offers separate apps for their TVs and Blu-Ray players for quick setup. If you have a WD TV Media Player, a remote control app called WDTV Media Players Remote is available on the Android Market. It works with either the WD TV Live or Hub. Although Western Digital does not officially develop the app, it works great over Wi-Fi.